Musto con Gusto

  This week gay writer Michael Musto published a collection of choice cuts from his decades-old Village Voice column in book form, for the benefit of those who don't live in New York City or aren't old enough to remember 1984 (not myself, I assure you). The book, titled La Dolce Musto: Writings by the World's Most Outrageous Columnist, is packed with nostalgic trips (traipses?) through the 80's Manhattan art and club scenes, gay life, and the sometimes vicious world of tabloid gossip. Ever the clever promoter, Musto interviewed himself in this week's Voice about the book, and had a very interesting comment about the ever-hot topic of closeted celebrities:

They're squeamish and career-driven and usually are surrounded by people — often gay themselves — who feel coming out isn't an option because it might diminish their 10 percent of the pie. But I always felt if these stars stopped acting like being gay is such an unspeakable horror, their fans would follow suit. For years I screeched in print at Rosie O'Donnell for being so publicly ambiguous—but then she finally came out with an explosion of potpourri and flannel, called me a gay Nazi, and became the biggest in-your-face dyke since Eleanor Roosevelt. And this little Nazi faygeleh is thrilled. Like I said, the landscape's changing.

Changing how? In that the Internet is accelerating the process? Or is there genuine progress in the closeted celeb dilemma? Musto addresses the rise of Internet gossip bloggers thusly:

They add energy and immediacy to reporting and have forced the print media to be way less antsy about sexuality issues.

So Musto's a "glass half full" kind of guy, after all. Photo by Jeff Fusco (PS - I like how Amazon lists "Zha Zha" as one of the book's "Key Phrases")